Lancet Surveys of Iraq War Casualties - ORB Survey Compared With Lancet Studies

ORB Survey Compared With Lancet Studies

See also: ORB survey of Iraq War casualties

On September 14, 2007, ORB (Opinion Research Business), an independent UK based polling agency, published an estimate of the total casualties of the Iraq war. The figure suggested by ORB, which was based on survey responses from 1,499 adults, stands at 1,220,580 deaths, with a margin of error of 2.5%. This estimate, although conducted independently, and using a different polling methodology, is consistent with the Lancet findings if accounting for the additional 14 months covered by the ORB poll.

On 28 January 2008, ORB published an update based on additional work carried out in rural areas of Iraq. Some 600 additional interviews were undertaken and as a result of this the death estimate was revised to 1,033,000 with a given range of 946,000 to 1,120,000.

This ORB poll estimate came under criticism in a peer reviewed paper called "Conflict Deaths in Iraq: A Methodological Critique of the ORB Survey Estimate", published in the journal Survey Research Methods. This paper "finds fundamental flaws in the data underpinning ORB’s estimate", and concludes that the ORB data "are not suitable for deriving any credible estimate but, given proper scrutiny, it is clear that ORB has overestimated by a wide margin.

Read more about this topic:  Lancet Surveys Of Iraq War Casualties

Famous quotes containing the words orb, survey, compared and/or studies:

    Thus the orb he roamed
    With narrow search, and with inspection deep
    Considered every creature, which of all
    Most opportune might serve his wiles, and found
    The serpent subtlest beast of all the field.
    John Milton (1608–1674)

    When I survey the wondrous cross
    On which the Prince of Glory died,
    My richest gain I count but loss,
    And pour contempt on all my pride.
    Isaac Watts (1674–1748)

    Thought product and food product are to me
    Nothing compared to the producing of them.
    Robert Frost (1874–1963)

    [B]y going to the College [William and Mary] I shall get a more universal Acquaintance, which may hereafter be serviceable to me; and I suppose I can pursue my Studies in the Greek and Latin as well there as here, and likewise learn something of the Mathematics.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)